The whole Kosmos in its objective form is Vaikhari Vach; the light of the Logos is the madhyama form; and the Logos itself the pasyanti form; while Parabrahmam is the para (beyond the noumenon of all Noumena ) aspect of that Vach." ( Notes on the Bhagavad-Gita ) .
Thus Vach, Shekinah, or the "music of the spheres" of Pythagoras, are one, if we take for our example instances in the three most (apparently) dissimilar religious philosophies in the world -- the Hindu, the Greek and the Chaldean Hebrew.
These personations and allegories may be viewed under four (chief) and three (lesser) aspects or seven in all, as in Esotericism.
The para form is the ever subjective and latent Light and Sound, which exist eternally in the bosom of the INCOGNISABLE; when transferred into the ideation of the Logos, or its latent light , it is called pasyanti , and when it becomes that light expressed , it is madhyama.
Now the Kabala gives the definition thus: "There are three kinds of light, and that (fourth) which interpenetrates the others; (1) the clear and the penetrating, the objective light , (2) the reflected light, and (3) the abstract light.
The ten Sephiroth, the three and the Seven, are called in the Kabala the 10 words, D-BRIM (Dabarim), the numbers and the Emanations of the heavenly light, which is both Adam Kadmon and Sephira, or (Brahma) Prajapati-Vach.
Light, Sound, Number, are the three factors of creation in the Kabala.
Parabrahmam cannot be known except through the luminous Point (the L OGOS), which knows not Parabrahmam but only Mulaprakriti.
Similarly Adam Kadmon knew only Shekinah, though he was the vehicle of Ain-Soph.
And, as Adam Kadmon, he is in the esoteric interpretation the total of the number ten, the Sephiroth (himself a trinity, or the three attributes of the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Pranava , like Om , is a mystic term pronounced by the Yogis during meditation; of the terms called, according to exoteric Commentators, Vyahritis , or "Om, Bhur , Bhuva , Swar " (Om, earth, sky, heaven) -- Pranava is the most sacred, perhaps.
They are pronounced with breath suppressed.
See Manu II.
76-81, and Mitakshara commenting on the Yajnavahkya-Suriti , i.
23.
But the esoteric explanation goes a great deal further.
[[Vol.
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incognisable D EITY in One).* "When the Heavenly man (or L OGOS) first assumed the form of the Crown** (Kether) and identified himself with Sephira, he caused seven splendid lights to emanate from it (the Crown)," which made in their totality ten; so the Brahma-Prajapati, once he became separated from, yet identical with Vach, caused the seven Rishis, the seven Manus or Prajapatis to issue from that crown.
In Exotericism one will always find 10 and 7, of either Sephiroth or Prajapati; in Esoteric rendering always 3 and 7, which yield also 10.
Only when divided in the manifested sphere into 3 and 7, they form , the androgyne, and , or the figure X manifested and differentiated.
This will help the student to understand why Pythagoras esteemed the Deity (the Logos) to be the centre of unity and "Source of Harmony." We say this Deity was the Logos , not the MONAD that dwelleth in Solitude and Silence, because Pythagoras taught that UNITY being indivisible is no number.
And this is also why it was required of the candidate, who applied for admittance into his school, that he should have already studied as a preliminary step, the Sciences of Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry and Music , held as the four divisions of Mathematics.*** Again, this explains why the Pythagoreans asserted that the doctrine of Numbers -- the chief of all in Esotericism -- had been revealed to man by the celestial deities; that the world had been called forth out of Chaos by Sound or Harmony, and constructed according to the principles of musical proportion; that the seven planets which rule the destiny of mortals have a harmonious motion "and intervals corresponding to musical diastemes, rendering various sounds, so perfectly consonant, that they produce the sweetest melody, which is inaudible to us, only by reason of the greatness of the sound, which our ears are incapable of receiving." ( Censorinus.
) In the Pythagorean Theogony the hierarchies of the heavenly Host and Gods were numbered and expressed numerically.
Pythagoras had studied Esoteric Science in India; therefore we find his pupils saying "The monad (the manifested one) is the principle of all things.
From the Monad and the indeterminate duad (Chaos), numbers; from [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * It is this trinity that is meant by the "three steps of Vishnu"; which means: (Vishnu being considered as the Infinite in exotericism) -- that from the Parabrahm issued Mulaprakriti, Purusha (the Logos), and Prakriti: the four forms (with itself, the synthesis) of Vach.
And in the Kabala -- Ain-Soph, Shekinah, Adam Kadmon and Sephirah, the four -- or the three emanations being distinct -- yet ONE.
** Chaldean Book of Numbers.
In the current Kabala the name Jehovah replaces Adam Kadmon.
*** Justin Martyr tells us that, owing to his ignorance of these four sciences, he was rejected by the Pythagoreans as a candidate for admission into their school.
[[Vol.
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numbers, Points ; from points, Lines ; from lines, Superficies; from superficies, Solids; from these, solid Bodies, whose elements are four -- Fire, Water, Air, Earth; of all which transmuted (correlated), and totally changed, the world consists." -- (Diogenes Laertius in Vit.
Pythag.
) And this may also, if it does not unriddle the mystery altogether, at any rate lift a corner of the veil off those wondrous allegories that have been thrown upon Vach, the most mysterious of all the Brahmanical goddesses, she who is termed "the melodious cow who milked forth sustenance and water" (the Earth with all her mystic powers); and again she "who yields us nourishment and sustenance" (physical Earth).
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
Parabrahmam is described as 'the INCOGNISABLE' and 'beyond the noumenon of all Noumena,' and 'Parabrahmam cannot be known except through the luminous Point,' implying the ultimate reality transcends all positive description.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage explicitly maps Hindu (Vach, Parabrahmam), Greek (Pythagorean Logos, music of the spheres), and Chaldean-Hebrew (Shekinah, Sephiroth) concepts onto each other as one unified structure across traditions.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage presents a creation narrative: 'From the Monad and the indeterminate duad (Chaos), numbers; from numbers, Points; from points, Lines; from lines, Superficies; from superficies, Solids; from these, solid Bodies, whose elements are four.'
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'INCOGNISABLE' and the 'para form' described as 'ever subjective and latent' in the bosom of the unknowable source point to radical divine concealment.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Light is a central motif: 'the light of the Logos,' 'ever subjective and latent Light,' 'the luminous Point,' 'seven splendid lights,' and the Kabbalistic classification of three kinds of light plus a fourth that interpenetrates the others.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage explicitly maps cascading emanations from Parabrahmam/Ain-Soph through Logos/Adam Kadmon to the Sephiroth and the seven Rishis/Manus, describing a structured descent from the transcendent source.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The statement 'Pythagoras had studied Esoteric Science in India' implies a historical chain of transmission of secret wisdom across cultures and time.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
Vach is personified as feminine ('the melodious cow,' 'the most mysterious of all the Brahmanical goddesses'), the androgyne is explicitly named as the figure formed when the 3 and 7 are divided in the manifested sphere, and the male-female generative principle is structurally present.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage draws a sharp distinction between 'Exotericism' (10 and 7) and 'Esoteric rendering' (3 and 7), and between the exoteric and esoteric interpretations of the same symbols, indicating concealed inner meaning.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage traces a structured descent from the unconditioned (Parabrahmam/Ain-Soph) through Logos, the Sephiroth, and the seven Rishis down to the four material elements, describing the directional process of spirit descending into matter.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Logos is the central mediating principle throughout the passage, identified as the pasyanti form of Vach, the luminous Point through which Parabrahmam is known, and the 'centre of unity and Source of Harmony' in Pythagorean teaching.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The Monad is explicitly named as 'the MONAD that dwelleth in Solitude and Silence' and as 'the principle of all things' from which numbers, points, lines, and ultimately the material world proceed.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The entire passage is structured around numerical relationships (3, 7, 10), the doctrine of Numbers as 'the chief of all in Esotericism,' musical proportions, and the Pythagorean identification of Deity with Unity and Harmony.
Sacred knowledge transmitted as living speech rather than fixed writing — scripture carried in memory, song, and telling, renewed in each generation; the unwritten canon of a tradition.
The footnote describes the Pranava (Om) as 'a mystic term pronounced by the Yogis during meditation' with 'breath suppressed,' indicating a tradition of sacred oral utterance rather than written text.
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
The passage references Pythagoras's school with its admission requirements (study of Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, and Music) and the rejection of candidates who had not studied these, describing an organized esoteric institution.
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
The ten Sephiroth are explicitly discussed as the '10 words, D-BRIM (Dabarim),' their numerical relationship (3 and 7 yielding 10), and the Crown (Kether) as the source of seven emanated lights.
The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.
The passage explicitly identifies a trinity: 'Vishnu being considered as the Infinite in exotericism — that from the Parabrahm issued Mulaprakriti, Purusha (the Logos), and Prakriti: the four forms (with itself, the synthesis) of Vach,' and maps it onto the Kabbalistic Ain-Soph, Shekinah, Adam Kadmon.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that Vach, Shekinah, and the music of the spheres 'are one' across three traditions, and that the four forms of Vach are 'distinct — yet ONE,' expressing a fundamental non-dual unity underlying all apparent multiplicity.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The entire passage is about Vach (the Word/Sound) as the creative principle: 'Light, Sound, Number, are the three factors of creation in the Kabala,' the world was 'called forth out of Chaos by Sound or Harmony,' and the Pranava (Om) is described as a mystic term with creative power.